The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for sensing of three-dimensional environmental information and a method of operating the same, more particularly, to an apparatus which provides information about a person's surroundings through a tactile output and a method of operating the same.
Currently, the nearly 300,000 blind and visually impaired people in the United States utilize conventional mobility canes which provide a very limited amount of information about their surrounding environment. A conventional mobility cane only provides information about the space surrounding a user which may be physically touched by the cane.
Various apparatus have been developed to provide blind people with information about the surrounding environment beyond the physical reach of the conventional cane. These devices typically rely on an acoustic element to provide information to the user. One example of such a device is an acoustic cane which provides sensing information through sound feedback, e.g., echo location. The acoustic cane emits a noise which reflects, or echoes, from objects within the blind person's environment. The blind person then interprets the echoes to decipher the layout of the surrounding environment. Similarly, other devices may emit light and detect reflection of the emitted light from obstacles. These devices also rely on an audio signal such as a click or a variably pitched beep to convey obstacle detection information to the user.
Devices relying on an audio signal for information conveyance are not well suited for noisy environments such as heavily trafficked streets where audible signals are difficult to detect and interpret. These devices are especially ill suited for deaf and blind individuals who are incapable of receiving the audio signals. Other drawbacks to the acoustic cane and other audio devices include that they may draw unwanted attention to the user and or interfere with the user's sense of hearing.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus for increasing the information gathering range of blind or blind and deaf people beyond the range of a conventional cane and supplying the gathered information to the user in real time and in a way which may be easily perceived in high noise level environments by both hearing and non-hearing individuals.